811 Bike Unveiled At OC Convention

OCEAN CITY – Stars of the popular Discovery Channel TV show, American Chopper, rolled into town with a newly built motorcycle this week to support the mission to “Call Before You Dig”.

The reveal of the “811 Bike” created by Paul Teutul Jr., star of the popular Discovery Channel show American Chopper and president and CEO of Paul Jr. Designs, took place on Wednesday at the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau in Ocean City. The bike reveal is being filmed as part of American Chopper-Senior Vs. Junior.

The “811 Bike” was created to help spread the safe digging message at Miss Utility 2011 Greater Chesapeake Damage Prevention Training Conference held at the Clarion. The bike is named after the national call before you dig number. The bike features state-of-the-art mechanics and a sleek design to connect the safe digging theme. The bike was commissioned by One Call Concepts, Inc., which is the organization that manages operations for the Miss Utility Center.

“We want to take a moment and thank you for all that you do and for attending this conference and for being so astute in making sure that everything we do and build is safe for our residents and all the visitors that come to Ocean City,” Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said.

The phone number 811 is a new, federally mandated national “Call Before You Dig” number. It was created to help protect underground utility lines from unintentionally being hit during projects. Often risky assumptions are made on whether utility lines should be marked due to concerns over costs or delays of a project. Unfortunately those assumptions are life-threatening. If an underground utility line is hit, harm can be brought to the digger as well as those around them, as well as disrupt service to an entire neighborhood and potentially be responsible for fines and repair costs.

American Chopper star Mikey Teutul, and Paul’s little brother, joked around with the crowd before the big reveal

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“I think it is very important that you call before you dig. You dig?” he said. “I wanted to personally thank these guys for asking my brother to build them a motorcycle. It means quite a bit to me to support my brother and it’s wonderful to see such a wonderful project like 811 and to support them as well.”

Miss Utility of Maryland is a one-call notification center that notifies subscribing utility owners of a contractor’s or homeowner’s proposed excavation plans.

“On behalf of all the underground facility owners, excavators, contractors … we thank you, this has really been a hands-on prevention,” Director of Client Relations for Miss Utility Matt Ruddo said. “This bike is going to go all over the country. It is going to be amazing.”

According to One Call Concepts website, it’s a client-focused organization that provides high-quality, value-oriented solutions to assist owners, operators and excavators in protecting the public safety by preventing damage to underground facilities as they manage call centers across the country.

President and Founder of One Call Concepts Tom Hoff said he immediately thought about Paul Teutul Jr. since he has been watching American Chopper since its beginning and how everything he does is “off the charts”. He said when he first called he had to explain the mission behind “Call Before You Dig”.

“About 30 seconds later, they absolutely got the essence of what this is all about and I knew at that point in time I could really trust them to bring something here that we are all going to be excited and proud of to use to enhance the efforts of this entire assignment,” he said.

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